Dgwphotos

The past few months have been filled with some new acquisitions and some production, including in the darkroom of all places! I purchased four new lenses, including a wide angle and telephoto for the Bronica medium format SLR, which will receive it's own post, as there are some special elements to the design of that camera. In addition to those two, I bought a new macro lens, a 90mm Tamron autofocus macro lens that will do 1:1 (life size) without any need for extension tubes, and an 80-400mm Nikkor VR lens. In addition to the lenses, I purchased a few Wimberly Plamps, which will also be the subject of a post, a new macro rail, and two quick release L brackets. I was able to clear the darkroom up enough to do some printing, it's probably been at least 10 years since it was active. First up is this different perspective on the "Mine cart bridge" at Franklin, which actually supported a water pipe for the town: Also while browsing my negatives, I came across the...

While the camera and lenses usually get all the attention, often, it's the accessories that can make the photos possible. In this episode, we will be looking at the supporting cast, also known as tripods and other support equipment/accessories. Starting out with the simplest support, we have a bean bag. This is typically used folded in half with the lens on top of it to steady the lens and camera. More elabrate ones can be found with integrated tripod mounting screws. Next up, we have the monopod. This is primarily used for sports photography, where portable support for heavy fixed telephoto lenses and telephoto zoom lenses in low light is essential. The monopod can be mounted to the tripod collar found on most professional fixed telephoto lenses and telephoto zoom lenses. Mine is equipped with a ball head, although in actual use, the ball head wouldn't be adjusted unless the camera was mounted to it directly, rather than via the tripod collar on the telephoto lens. When...

This abandoned 1950's mail truck is just off the May Creek trail, between Newcastle and Renton. According to local geocachers, the van is a 1955-57 Fageol/Dodge C-3-C6 Postal Van. It was apparently painted with marking explaining the Zip code system in the 1960's. Thanks for looking, and as always, feel free to comment!

Recently, I came across these photos from the Alternate Processes class I took at CWU. These were taken using a 4x5 view camera (owned by the university) and printed using the Cyanotype and Van Dyke processes. They were taken at Olmstead Place State Park, between Ellensburg and Kittitas Washington, which is a preserved pioneer farm. The prints are hand coated on watercolor paper. Both processes use contact printing and are only sensitive to UV light. Because these prints use contact printing, the print sizes are limited to the size of the negatives, so either a large format negative or an internegative (I have some larger photos printed using "digital" negatives) must be used. This is some of the old farm equipment on display at the farm. The farm is a living history museum, and they do demonstrations of old time farming, however, this equipment is a static display. This photo is printed using the Cyanotype process. This is a old one room school that was moved to the fa...

As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, I brought the Lomographic Fisheye down with me. The view from where the other photos were taken. This is about 20-30ft above the river level. The view of the mine cart location from the water level. A view back up the hill, the final stage of the path is narrow and steep. There are some aids to getting down, "steps" have been created. This is the view to the south, the cliff face to the right is where the fern is growing. The river to the north. Thanks for looking, and as always, feel free to comment!

The setup used for the digital IR photos: Due to the discontinuation of High Speed Infrared film by Kodak (I do still have a very limited supply, however, my darkroom is presently out of order.), I started experimenting with digital infrared techniques. The hot mirror, which filters out most IR light, on the Nikon D70 is not quite as sensitive as other cameras (including my D200), so, with a R72 filter, which only passes IR, (although, if you hold it up to a light, you can see through it a bit), you can use it to do IR photography. Exposures are on the long side, however, so a tripod is absolutely required. In addition to the tripod, a wireless release is recommended, but not an absolute requirement (mine is missing). The filter, however, is a tad expensive, particularly in the larger sizes, such as the 77mm filter used by my 19-35 Tamron lens, so my initial experiments were with a 52mm filter. About a year ago, I went ahead and bought the 77mm filter, which is what is used for the ...

While the town of Franklin was abandoned in the early 1920's, several mines at Franklin operated into the 1960's, including two mines down the hill and across the river. (a third mine across the river was operated until the town was abandoned) Because the town was situated above the Green River Gorge, there is a considerable climb down to the river from the access to the town site, and an incline was used to access the mine operations across the river. Recently, my friend Peter and I went down the northern most of the three paths down to the river (first path from the trailhead), which was the access to the last mine in the area, which was closed as an explosives test during the 1960's, as I had heard about an abandoned mine cart in the river that's most visible in the summer when the water is at its lowest. I brought my digital IR equipment (D70 + R72 IR only filter), the D200, set to black and white, and the Lomo Fisheye down with me. The abandoned mine cart ...